0:00:02 > 0:00:05This is a programme about the science of a psychoactive drug.
0:00:05 > 0:00:08In high enough doses, it's poisonous.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11It can also lead to anxiety and dependence.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14But almost all of us use it - including me.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17All in the interests of science, you understand.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21Tonight, we investigate the rise and rise of caffeine.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24We've become a caffeine nation. We've almost become addicted to caffeine.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28Is there a corner of our lives caffeine hasn't penetrated?
0:00:30 > 0:00:33And could caffeine potentially be putting young people at risk,
0:00:33 > 0:00:35even of dying?
0:00:35 > 0:00:37Unprotected sex, or even a sexual assault.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40He walked into his bedroom or something with the gun
0:00:40 > 0:00:42and the gun went off.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45I have coined the phrase "crack in a can".
0:00:45 > 0:00:48Join me on a journey through our caffeinated nation.
0:01:02 > 0:01:07Aaah, caffeine. No morning is complete without it - for me, at least.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13I don't know about you, but I certainly
0:01:13 > 0:01:14can't live without my morning coffee.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18A shot of this stuff is, well, the dividing line between night-time and daytime,
0:01:18 > 0:01:21and it's the world's most widely-used drug, caffeine -
0:01:21 > 0:01:2480% of people have it in their daily lives -
0:01:24 > 0:01:26but what do we really know about it?
0:01:26 > 0:01:29What do we get out of it and how much do we need it?
0:01:29 > 0:01:34Well, it's a stimulant, isn't it? And it goes very well with tobacco.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37Sometimes, it's just for the taste,
0:01:37 > 0:01:40but usually it's just for medicinal purposes.
0:01:41 > 0:01:48I drink black coffee and I prefer it to be brewed...strong.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52It seems like whichever way you turn,
0:01:52 > 0:01:55someone's opened a coffee shop.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57But do the facts bear that out?
0:01:57 > 0:02:00Back in the '90s, coffee wasn't such a big thing in this country,
0:02:00 > 0:02:03a lot of people drunk instant coffee, now everyone's drunk coffee.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05It's become incredibly mainstream.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07There's a coffee shop or five on every single corner.
0:02:07 > 0:02:09And in terms of the numbers, what do they tell us?
0:02:09 > 0:02:13Well, the in-home industry's just been, or just risen to,
0:02:13 > 0:02:15over a billion pounds.
0:02:15 > 0:02:21So it's been pretty recession-resistant, the coffee shop market is doing incredibly, as well,
0:02:21 > 0:02:24it's still seeing steady growth despite the fact that people haven't
0:02:24 > 0:02:26got as much money in their pockets.
0:02:26 > 0:02:31Basically, people, in recessionary times, don't want to sacrifice their small treat,
0:02:31 > 0:02:33the kind of daily indulgence.
0:02:33 > 0:02:34And people have got really used to coffee.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36And it's not just about the treat or the taste,
0:02:36 > 0:02:39it's about people really wanting more energy, and loving
0:02:39 > 0:02:41the energy properties they're getting from coffee.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44What does it tell us? Are we becoming a more caffeinated society?
0:02:44 > 0:02:46Yeah, we've become a caffeine nation.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49You know, we have almost become addicted to caffeine.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53It's become such an integral part of our everyday life that I think
0:02:53 > 0:02:55we would really struggle without it now.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58So we're living in a caffeinated society.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00But what is caffeine - and what's it doing to us?
0:03:03 > 0:03:06So, woke up this morning, no coffee.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09I haven't had any chocolate, I haven't had any diet coke,
0:03:09 > 0:03:11which is pretty unusual for me, actually.
0:03:11 > 0:03:16And it's been really strange because you realise how much
0:03:16 > 0:03:20caffeinated drinks and caffeinated food fit into your life.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24The big reason is that this morning, here in Cardiff, I'm going to get
0:03:24 > 0:03:28my brain scanned to find out exactly what effect caffeine has on me.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38I'm going to be tested - first in my caffeine-free state,
0:03:38 > 0:03:42then with added caffeine - to see what it does to my brain.
0:03:45 > 0:03:51Ken has just gone into a 3-tesla MRI system so that we can measure the blood flow to his brain
0:03:51 > 0:03:53before he has a drink of coffee.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57All right, time for the science -
0:03:57 > 0:03:59what is it that caffeine does to my brain?
0:03:59 > 0:04:03It turns out, it's all to do with something called adenosine.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06Adenosine is a substance that's produced naturally in the body.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10What it tends to do is inhibit neural activity
0:04:10 > 0:04:13and what caffeine does is block that inhibition, it sort of
0:04:13 > 0:04:18takes the brake off adenosine's natural inhibiting function.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21In other words, caffeine acts as something of a stimulant.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27Having just been paid to lie down for a while, now I'm having a free coffee.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30This is three shots with a splash of milk.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32So according to the Food Standards Agency,
0:04:32 > 0:04:34something around 150mg of caffeine.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39And, oh, how I've missed you.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46Ahh, thank you very much.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49All in the interests of science, you understand.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57Time to scan me again -
0:04:57 > 0:05:00this time returned to my normal caffeinated state.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03Would there be a visible change in my brain?
0:05:04 > 0:05:07This is the image before you had your cup of coffee,
0:05:07 > 0:05:12and this is the image taken about half an hour after your cup of coffee.
0:05:12 > 0:05:17The blood flow here, shown by darker colours, is reduced
0:05:17 > 0:05:20with respect to before your coffee.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24Your brain will be used to a certain amount of blood flow,
0:05:24 > 0:05:29and it's got used to having caffeine in your system, so this
0:05:29 > 0:05:33blood flow here represents a more normal situation for your brain
0:05:33 > 0:05:35than your caffeine-starved state
0:05:35 > 0:05:39in which blood flow is abnormally elevated.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42There is some suggestion that that may be associated with some of
0:05:42 > 0:05:46the headaches that people get with caffeine withdrawal.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49'So, if my boost in mood is really down to getting rid
0:05:49 > 0:05:53'of my withdrawal symptoms, does that make me a caffeine addict?'
0:05:53 > 0:05:57I would say not an addict. You like caffeine
0:05:57 > 0:05:59and you're clearly dependant on it.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02Actually, caffeine is a good example of the difference
0:06:02 > 0:06:04between dependence and addiction.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07You're dependent, in the sense that you don't function normally
0:06:07 > 0:06:08without caffeine,
0:06:08 > 0:06:12but addiction is when you have a real compulsion.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18That was a fascinating experience - I saw my brain for the first time,
0:06:18 > 0:06:22but beyond that, it showed there were physiological changes
0:06:22 > 0:06:26sparked off by drinking a not-enormous amount of caffeine
0:06:26 > 0:06:28in some rather delicious coffee.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31Given that I'd laid off the caffeine for 24 hours before that,
0:06:31 > 0:06:36it does raise the question of whether, if I'm not addicted, am I dependent?
0:06:36 > 0:06:40And also, whether that is necessarily a bad thing,
0:06:40 > 0:06:43because in moderation, caffeine can be your friend.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53But what is moderation, and how much are we dosing ourselves with?
0:06:53 > 0:06:58Back in Glasgow's West End, I met a man who's made some worrying discoveries.
0:06:58 > 0:07:03Alan Crozier tested 20 espressos from different cafes in the city.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06Lo and behold, we got these interesting results
0:07:06 > 0:07:10where there was six-fold variations in the level of seemingly
0:07:10 > 0:07:13similar espresso coffees, going from 50mg per cup
0:07:13 > 0:07:19to in excess of 300mg from three or four of the coffees.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21And that's for a single shot?
0:07:21 > 0:07:24That's from a single shot of espresso like that.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26And some types of coffee have a double shot.
0:07:26 > 0:07:31And your latte will have a double shot in it.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38That's a worry, because coffee drinkers can't be sure what they're taking in.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40More seriously, it means that pregnant women -
0:07:40 > 0:07:44who shouldn't consume more than 200mg of caffeine a day -
0:07:44 > 0:07:48could drink three times that safe limit with just one latte.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52Back at the university, I asked Alan what that means.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57There's guidelines from the Food Standards Agency.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00"There's this much caffeine for an instant cup,
0:08:00 > 0:08:02"there's this for an espresso,"
0:08:02 > 0:08:06and because of the variations, these guidelines are of very, very
0:08:06 > 0:08:10limited value for you to estimate how much you're taking in per day.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19Even if you don't drink coffee,
0:08:19 > 0:08:22there are plenty of other ways for caffeine to get into your system.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28I wanted to see what people knew about other drinks,
0:08:28 > 0:08:31and that brought me here, to a somewhat damp Dundee.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38Coca-Cola. That's classic Coca-Cola there.
0:08:38 > 0:08:43'We gave people a wee puzzle - match the caffeine content to the drink.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45'No-one got it right.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49'For those of you playing along at home, here are the answers.'
0:08:49 > 0:08:51The least caffeinated is ordinary Coke.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55The most in our selection is a Grande Starbucks latte.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57But was that what the people of Dundee expected?
0:08:57 > 0:08:59Were you surprised by these levels?
0:08:59 > 0:09:02In the cup of tea, yeah - and the Diet Coke and the Coke.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06That's actually kind of a shock, that's mental.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10I always thought a normal Coke would be a lot hingier than Diet.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15That surprises you? Do you pay attention to how much caffeine you drink?
0:09:15 > 0:09:17No.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21Do you think you get enough information about how much caffeine there is in these drinks?
0:09:21 > 0:09:22No.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27Caffeine is water soluble - just as well that I'm not, really.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29But what I think we've found from the good people of Dundee
0:09:29 > 0:09:33is that they really don't have much of a clue as to how much
0:09:33 > 0:09:38caffeine is in what beverage - but then again, who does?
0:09:38 > 0:09:41Looking at the soft drinks that contain caffeine, it's not
0:09:41 > 0:09:44straightforward to tell how much is actually in there.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48The ingredients do state they include caffeine, but not how much.
0:09:49 > 0:09:54And oddly, many of the biggest-selling drinks list it as a flavouring.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01But is that the whole story?
0:10:01 > 0:10:05We asked a leading nutrition expert to recreate - on a smaller scale -
0:10:05 > 0:10:08an experiment done by researchers in the US and Australia.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15It meant I got a chance to taste caffeine in its concentrated form.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29Mike is making up two lemonades - one caffeinated at the same
0:10:29 > 0:10:33concentration as some major brand drinks, the other without caffeine.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36Will I be able to taste the difference?
0:10:40 > 0:10:42I can't tell the difference between those.
0:10:42 > 0:10:47And as you know, we tasted some caffeine earlier, I know exactly where I should be feeling it.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51I'm not sensing anything there at all.
0:10:53 > 0:10:58I tasted a slight difference, and I thought B tasted slightly more bitter.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03So I'm going for B as being the one with more caffeine in it.
0:11:03 > 0:11:04And you'd be completely wrong.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06Now, that was a guess, and I'm glad you guessed wrong.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08As a guess, you're telling me
0:11:08 > 0:11:10it's really 50-50, more or less.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13In point of fact, the caffeine all went into A.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16'The original research also found
0:11:16 > 0:11:19'most people couldn't taste caffeine in this concentration.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21'So why is it there?'
0:11:21 > 0:11:23It claims to be a flavouring.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26When you see that on a food label, what do you think?
0:11:27 > 0:11:30Now that caffeine is being added to so many other foods,
0:11:30 > 0:11:32it makes them a little bit addictive too.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36So if you drink a fizzy drink with caffeine in it,
0:11:36 > 0:11:40you're drawn to drinking more of that more frequently
0:11:40 > 0:11:44and the companies who sell it think that's a good idea cos they sell more of it.
0:11:45 > 0:11:47That sounds a bit dodgy.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50What does the organisation that represents most soft drink
0:11:50 > 0:11:53manufacturers have to say about that allegation?
0:11:53 > 0:11:56Well, I don't accept that it is there to create a dependency.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58You're using terms which suggest that
0:11:58 > 0:12:00it's designed to persuade people
0:12:00 > 0:12:03to alter their mind in some way, which it clearly isn't, in my view.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07What I do accept is that many soft drinks across various categories
0:12:07 > 0:12:12actually contain caffeine as an ingredient, and that's fine.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14It seems to me a very clear distinction between products
0:12:14 > 0:12:16that contain a small amount of caffeine,
0:12:16 > 0:12:19which will be labelled in the ingredients on the back
0:12:19 > 0:12:21of the packet or the can, and a product that contains
0:12:21 > 0:12:24a high level of caffeine, for which it's wholly right that we,
0:12:24 > 0:12:28as a responsible industry, provide guidance to consumers.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34These are the sorts of products Gavin Partington is referring to
0:12:34 > 0:12:37when he talks about drinks with a high caffeine content.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40Whether or not they give the consumer an energy boost,
0:12:40 > 0:12:43they've certainly given the soft drinks industry a shot in the arm.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48In terms of success story, it puts coffee in the shade.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50You know, the growth of energy drinks is phenomenal,
0:12:50 > 0:12:54- way above coffee. - In what way? What sorts of numbers are we talking about?
0:12:54 > 0:12:57Again, just like coffee, it's just broken the billion-pound mark,
0:12:57 > 0:12:59but whereas coffee's been around for a lot longer,
0:12:59 > 0:13:02energy drinks have only been around for, you know, not much more than a decade.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06- So who's drinking them?- Certainly 16-to-24s are drinking them the most
0:13:06 > 0:13:09but I think a lot of teenagers are drinking them without doubt, as well.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13- And children? - I suspect some children are drinking them, yeah, definitely.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18That's a worry, because the industry says they shouldn't be.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20Well, our guidelines are very clear.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23The guidelines relate to products that contain high caffeine
0:13:23 > 0:13:28content, that is over 150mg per litre of product,
0:13:28 > 0:13:32and they stipulate that they should not be sold to or consumed by
0:13:32 > 0:13:36children. It's a very clear form of guidance, and we hope as many
0:13:36 > 0:13:41people as possible will bear that in mind when looking at these products.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47So the organisation that represents Britain's drinks industry says
0:13:47 > 0:13:51that children shouldn't be drinking energy drinks at all, but are they?
0:13:59 > 0:14:02This is the Mountain Bike World Cup near Fort William,
0:14:02 > 0:14:04about as extreme as sport gets,
0:14:04 > 0:14:06and it looks like exactly the sort of thing
0:14:06 > 0:14:10that energy drinks want to associate themselves with.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15There are plenty of children here, and some of them are drinking the product
0:14:15 > 0:14:17made by headline sponsor Monster,
0:14:17 > 0:14:21which has around 160mg of caffeine per can.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23Where did they get it?
0:14:23 > 0:14:26I see you've just come from the Monster pavilion there...
0:14:26 > 0:14:28- Yeah.- ..and you've got a drink.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32Yeah, they're handing out free Monster, to kind of attract people.
0:14:32 > 0:14:34And how old are you?
0:14:34 > 0:14:37- 11.- How many of those have you had this weekend?
0:14:37 > 0:14:39Three.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43What sort of effect does it have on you?
0:14:43 > 0:14:46Hyper. I think it's the sugar or something.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50And what do you know about caffeine?
0:14:50 > 0:14:54It's... Not much - I know you get it in coffee.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57You get it in coffee, but...
0:14:57 > 0:15:00I don't know too much about it.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02Do you know how much caffeine is in that?
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Ehhh... No.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11Would you take my word if I said quite a lot?
0:15:11 > 0:15:13Probably.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16At an event like this, they are giving them away free -
0:15:16 > 0:15:19there's a very strong association with the brand,
0:15:19 > 0:15:21you see all the riders riding about.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24There's no doubt they are going for the cool factor.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26And all you need to do is see the kids queuing up inside
0:15:26 > 0:15:28and there's fridges full of free drink.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32And I think it would be incredibly naive of the brands to
0:15:32 > 0:15:36suggest that under-16s aren't drinking them, because when you
0:15:36 > 0:15:40come to an event like this, it's plainly ludicrous. You know, I think
0:15:40 > 0:15:44they're going for the youth market because that's where you hook them.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46In a statement, Monster said:
0:16:22 > 0:16:26So according to the industry, children drinking energy drinks is
0:16:26 > 0:16:29a no-no, but marketing them to young people is a different matter.
0:16:29 > 0:16:36Here, the dividing line between those two things is so thin
0:16:36 > 0:16:37as to be invisible.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44And it seems it's not just a weekend treat.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47This is Cannock Chase High School near Stafford.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51I've been summoned to meet the heidie at the school gates.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53Even today, with our energy drinks ban
0:16:53 > 0:16:55I picked these up at the gate from children walking into school
0:16:55 > 0:16:59this morning, two 13-year-olds who were having them for breakfast.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01Why do you have a ban?
0:17:01 > 0:17:03A couple of years a couple of my key staff - a science teacher
0:17:03 > 0:17:05and a pastoral leader - came to me,
0:17:05 > 0:17:07and they said they were concerned about the number
0:17:07 > 0:17:10of energy drinks the children were consuming and the effect
0:17:10 > 0:17:14it was having both on their health and their concentration in lessons.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17The ban came from concerns about caffeine,
0:17:17 > 0:17:20raised by science teacher Kate Boot.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23When I see children as young as year 11 coming,
0:17:23 > 0:17:27walking to school in the morning drinking certain energy drinks,
0:17:27 > 0:17:30and I'm thinking, "Hang on a minute, we've got to teach these today,"
0:17:30 > 0:17:33and I know the effects that the caffeine can
0:17:33 > 0:17:37have on their little bodies in terms of their hyperactivity,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40when it wears off, what they're like.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43Their addictiveness, they need another drink, they get irritated,
0:17:43 > 0:17:46agitative, and I thought, "I've had enough of this".
0:17:46 > 0:17:49And the ban has been popular with pupils, too.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51I think it was done for the right reasons - I don't know
0:17:51 > 0:17:55if the makers of this drink said under-16-year-olds didn't drink it,
0:17:55 > 0:17:57but I don't know where they did their research
0:17:57 > 0:18:00because certainly people under 16 did drink it in this school.
0:18:00 > 0:18:04What lessons do you think other parts of the country should draw from this school?
0:18:04 > 0:18:06I think they should ban them, too,
0:18:06 > 0:18:09because children are more likely to concentrate in lessons
0:18:09 > 0:18:13without these drinks, so they should definitely ban them.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15What age were you when you were drinking these?
0:18:15 > 0:18:18It was only a year or two ago so 14, 15, 16.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21Did you know the industry says you're not meant to?
0:18:21 > 0:18:23No, it's not well advertised at all.
0:18:24 > 0:18:25Cans do carry warnings
0:18:25 > 0:18:29that energy drinks shouldn't be drunk by children.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33But is that message drowned out by marketing that affects young consumers?
0:18:33 > 0:18:37Inevitably, in the world of marketing, frankly, there is always
0:18:37 > 0:18:41going to be a question mark about whether, on the margins, does it
0:18:41 > 0:18:47actually influence perhaps a section of a younger age group?
0:18:47 > 0:18:48It may happen occasionally.
0:18:48 > 0:18:53So who should be stopping young people consuming these drinks?
0:18:53 > 0:18:55This is primarily an issue for parents.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58I mean, that would have to be our starting point here.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00Yes, we can produce our own guidance and that's designed to be
0:19:00 > 0:19:04available for young adults, but also for parents.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07But parents need to make an informed choice.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11If we're serious about recognising the potential hazard of
0:19:11 > 0:19:16high-caffeine drinks for children, then we should certainly be putting
0:19:16 > 0:19:20obstacles in the way of children getting them, and for example,
0:19:20 > 0:19:24children going into a shop to buy alcohol is forbidden, because
0:19:24 > 0:19:27it's bad for them and they're not permitted to drink it.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30Perhaps the same sort of approach should be used for
0:19:30 > 0:19:31highly caffeinated drinks.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43There is another worrying aspect of caffeine -
0:19:43 > 0:19:47to find out about it, I had to travel to the United States.
0:19:48 > 0:19:53The caffeine trail can lead you to some unexpected places. I certainly never expected
0:19:53 > 0:19:58to be visiting the city of Winter Park, Florida. But that's where I am, because here,
0:19:58 > 0:20:01they're not just concerned about high levels of caffeine
0:20:01 > 0:20:04causing disturbed sleep or reducing blood flow to your brain -
0:20:04 > 0:20:06they are worried that it may have
0:20:06 > 0:20:09deadly consequences when you mix it with the wrong thing.
0:20:13 > 0:20:14'In a suburban attorney's office,
0:20:14 > 0:20:19'I met a lawyer and a family with a sad story to tell.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21'It's about a young man called Jason Keiran,
0:20:21 > 0:20:23'and a drink called Four Loko.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28'Jason's parents and their lawyer explained that one can of the drink
0:20:28 > 0:20:33'contains the equivalent of five or six beers' worth of alcohol.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35'But it also had caffeine in it.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38'Four Loko's manufacturers refuse to disclose the exact level,
0:20:38 > 0:20:43'but independent analysis suggests as much as in two cans of Red Bull.'
0:20:43 > 0:20:47I have coined the phrase "crack in a can".
0:20:47 > 0:20:51And, uh, that's what I think of it as, as crack in a can.
0:20:51 > 0:20:58It was a simple way to deliver a type of drug,
0:20:58 > 0:21:02which are all those stimulants and alcohol, they are drugs,
0:21:02 > 0:21:08and sell them to the masses in a very cheap way.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12'In 2010, Joe and Vicki say Jason drank three cans of Four Loko,
0:21:12 > 0:21:15'and after being awake for 30 hours,
0:21:15 > 0:21:18'he got involved in a game with a friend's gun.'
0:21:18 > 0:21:22At some point in time, he walked into his bedroom
0:21:22 > 0:21:25or something with the gun and the gun went off.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29No-one was there to see exactly what happened,
0:21:29 > 0:21:33but the aftermath was Jason lying on the floor, with...
0:21:33 > 0:21:35with the gun beside him, with a head wound.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39That's in Central Park, me and him in the doorway...
0:21:39 > 0:21:44'Jason died the next day in what's been recorded as a suicide.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47'Friends told police he had threatened to kill himself
0:21:47 > 0:21:48'when drunk before.
0:21:48 > 0:21:54'But his parents say they don't recognise Jason's actions as those of the son they knew.'
0:21:54 > 0:21:57My son, the glass was always half full.
0:21:57 > 0:21:58There was no ups and downs.
0:21:58 > 0:22:03There was no highs and lows before this drink and that day.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06So that's why, to say that my son
0:22:06 > 0:22:09killed himself is, is a very...
0:22:09 > 0:22:12not...a true thing, as far as what I'm concerned,
0:22:12 > 0:22:17because he was more or less poisoned.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21It's just so out of character for him that it's just difficult to...
0:22:21 > 0:22:23to believe that...
0:22:23 > 0:22:25Believe me, before this happened,
0:22:25 > 0:22:28I would be one of those mums saying "Well, what did that kid do?"
0:22:28 > 0:22:32But being on this side of it, I can assure you that
0:22:32 > 0:22:35you're looking through a different set of lenses,
0:22:35 > 0:22:38and it's a much truer lens.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40'The family is suing the company
0:22:40 > 0:22:44'that made Four Loko over the drink's claimed effects.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48'After Jason's death, Don lobbied the Food and Drug Administration
0:22:48 > 0:22:52'who wrote to Four Loko expressing serious concerns about the safety
0:22:52 > 0:22:55'of the drink and mixing caffeine and alcohol generally.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58'The makers withdrew the caffeinated version.'
0:22:58 > 0:23:04The good news is, is that the FDA did react rather quickly,
0:23:04 > 0:23:0660 days to the day,
0:23:06 > 0:23:13from the day that Jason Keiran tragically died, which, uh, is very,
0:23:13 > 0:23:20very rare to get a governmental agency to move so quickly.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26In a statement, the manufacturers of Four Loko said:
0:24:04 > 0:24:07It would be hard to blame Jason's death on caffeine alone -
0:24:07 > 0:24:11he had consumed a lot of alcohol, and obviously, if there hadn't been
0:24:11 > 0:24:14a gun there, things would have been very different.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18But regulators in the US clearly believed that mixing alcohol
0:24:18 > 0:24:21and caffeine was something they needed to examine.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24And here in Florida there's evidence that even at doses many of us
0:24:24 > 0:24:27would consider normal, the mix can affect behaviour.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38I visited a college bar in Gainesville, to see
0:24:38 > 0:24:42what people who were mixing alcohol and caffeine thought about it.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46The Red Bull keeps me going and keeps me drinking...
0:24:46 > 0:24:48and does it all through the night.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55I usually drink Diet Coke and whisky, Bourbon.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57And what sort of effect does it have on you?
0:24:57 > 0:25:00I mean, it's fighting fire with fire, you have a depressant
0:25:00 > 0:25:04and a stimulant, so you're just even at the end of the night.
0:25:04 > 0:25:05Does it work for you?
0:25:05 > 0:25:09No, it doesn't - the alcohol usually wins.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11Do you think there's any down side to it?
0:25:11 > 0:25:14Absolutely not...because tomorrow when I'm hungover
0:25:14 > 0:25:17you just keep taking more caffeine,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20you go to Starbucks, you get an Adderall and you keep going
0:25:20 > 0:25:23with the Red Bull and the vodka come five o'clock tomorrow.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29So what I think we're getting here from the customers of this bar
0:25:29 > 0:25:32is that there is a bit of resistance to the idea that
0:25:32 > 0:25:36mixing caffeine and alcohol can lead to a new set of behaviours.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39But what's the empirical evidence?
0:25:41 > 0:25:44The reason we're on the Florida University campus is that
0:25:44 > 0:25:47researchers here looked at the effect on students of alcohol alone,
0:25:47 > 0:25:50compared to mixing it with caffeine.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56Mixing alcohol with high doses of caffeine results in
0:25:56 > 0:25:58a wide-awake drunk.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02These individuals are wide awake as a result of the caffeine
0:26:02 > 0:26:04and buzzed as a result of the alcohol.
0:26:05 > 0:26:11The downside of a wide-awake drunk is the lack of perception
0:26:11 > 0:26:14of one's impairment, which results in risky behaviours -
0:26:14 > 0:26:17driving while impaired with alcohol,
0:26:17 > 0:26:20unprotected sex, or even a sexual assault.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24You're not alone in carrying out research into this area, are you?
0:26:24 > 0:26:27The cool part about our work is when we were
0:26:27 > 0:26:30conducting our research here in Gainesville with young people, there
0:26:30 > 0:26:34were several other groups around the country that were conducting
0:26:34 > 0:26:38very similar projects, and in the end we came up with the same conclusion.
0:26:38 > 0:26:43That is, impaired judgement, impaired behaviour,
0:26:43 > 0:26:47much greater than one would see when alcohol is consumed alone.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53Not all scientists in this field agree with Dr Goldberger.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56A review of the evidence for UK regulators last year
0:26:56 > 0:26:59concluded that the balance of evidence didn't support
0:26:59 > 0:27:02a harmful interaction between caffeine and alcohol,
0:27:02 > 0:27:06although it admitted "substantial uncertainty" over that conclusion.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10And US regulators are now reviewing the safety of caffeine in all
0:27:10 > 0:27:14food and drink - including alcoholic beverages.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18They've been ruminating about regulation for decades.
0:27:18 > 0:27:23Now just recently, the head of the FDA has decided to,
0:27:23 > 0:27:25and directed his people to look at caffeine
0:27:25 > 0:27:29and to establish better rules and regulations.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34We're still months or years away from any sort of control over
0:27:34 > 0:27:36caffeine in food and beverage.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41Back in the UK, we asked the Food Standards Agency what they thought.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44They pointed to the recent review of evidence on caffeine
0:27:44 > 0:27:48and alcohol, but said they'd also closely consider emerging evidence
0:27:48 > 0:27:50on the safety of caffeine in energy drinks
0:27:50 > 0:27:52and alcoholic products.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56They also said they would consider the results of a European review
0:27:56 > 0:27:59of caffeine in food and drink, due later this year.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07'It's been a surprising, even shocking, experience for me,
0:28:07 > 0:28:11'looking at this drug. Caffeine plays a big part in our lives,
0:28:11 > 0:28:14'and it seems it's set to get even bigger.'
0:28:14 > 0:28:17Caffeine and caffeinated products have got a lot more potential,
0:28:17 > 0:28:20so, you know, caffeinated food is now a new area of growth.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24It could be anything, from cheese to bread, you know, you name it,
0:28:24 > 0:28:25it could be anything.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd